ME
Can we keep this PG, please?
CODY:
??Damn, you must really like this chick.
ME
VERY.
ME
And she's my best friend — so let's keep the innuendos to a minimum before I punch a wall.????
ELIJAH
FORMER best friend.
ME
Thanks, Cap. Super helpful.??
ELIJAH
??
LIAM
Bring your wallet. You're buying.
ME
Fine.
CODY
We just witnessed history.??Zach finally whipped enough to buy us drinks.
I pocket my phone and scrub a hand over my face, grinning despite myself.
This is either going to be the best idea I've ever had...
Or the dumbest.
Either way, my Sugarplum's about to get the full Westbrook treatment — the wooing of a lifetime.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CAROLINE
When Adam and I step into the ballet studio — one of the large practice spaces in the Performing Arts Center — the faint scent of rosin and polished wood hits me first. The room is bright, sunlight streaming in through tall windows that line one wall, reflecting off the mirrored panels on the other.
A long wooden barre runs along the mirrors, and the sprung floor is scuffed in all the right places, evidence of hours and hours of dancing.
Professor Callahan is already there, standing near the center of the room with Professor Charlotte Baker— Ridgewater's ballet professor— the two of them mid-conversation when we walk in.
Off to the side, two ballet students are at the barre, warming up.
